Wire fence.



-No. 733,890. PATENTED"JULY'14,.190 3. B. B. woon.

WIRE FENCE.

APPLICATION-FILED HAIR. 5. 1903.

WITNESSES: 1 'IMVEN 70R Patented July 14, 1903.

PATENT ()FFICE.

BERT B. WOOD, OF HELENA, MONTANA.

WIRE FENCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 733,890, dated July 14, 1903.

7 Application filed March 5, 1903. Serial No. 146,347. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, BERT B. WOOD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Helena, in the county of Lewis and Clarke and State of Montana, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Wire Fences, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is an improvement in wire fences, and particularly in the devices for securing the stay-wires to the line-wires at the point of crossing; and the inventionconsi'sts in certain novel constructions and combinations of parts whereby I secure a tie of the Wires at the crossing which will involve no exposed ends of the tie-wire and in which the tie-wire will be so constructed that when applied to a fence and properly manipulated it will form a practically continuous and rigid tie around the joint with no exposed ends and will tend to bend the wires at the crossing equally-that is to say, to form similar and equal bends in the line and stay wires, as desired.

In the drawings, Figure l is a side view of a portion of a fence embodying my'invention. Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view of the tie as in use, the line-wire and stay-wire being shown in dotted lines. Fig. 3 is a sectional plan View on about the line 3 30f Fig. 1. Fig. 4: is a sectional elevation on about line 4 4 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of the tie-wire ready for application to the fence.

In practice I prefer to make the tie or clamp A of strong smooth galvanized steel wire similar to that from which the line-Wires 1 and the stay-wires 2 of the fence are formed and to construct and apply the said tie and clamp in such manner that it will form a' continuous and rigid knot or clamp having no free exposed ends, but in which the ends of the wire forming the tie will abut and each protect the other, as shownin Fig. 2. I also apply my tie by clamping it on the joint by means of a suitable tool in the form of pincers adapted for the purpose; but as the said tool forms no part of the present invention I have not thought it necessary to show or describe it herein; but by clamping the tie on the fence instead of twisting the same to position I am able to secure it very tightly, use a short length of wire, bring the ends to abut,

and to. form in the line and stay wires similar and equal bends, so the joints will be held from any slipping either vertically or laterally. I amalso able by this construction to use the shortest length of wire possible in making the tie and to apply the tie or clamp with great force and instantly.

In the construction shown the tie or clamp ready for application to the joint of the fence is constructed as shown in Fig. 5 and consists' of the main loop A, having the side arms a and a and provided at the ends of said arms opposite the bend a with the returned arms B and C. These'arms B and C are of such length relatively as to produce a separated loop when the clamp is applied, as shown in Fig. 2, such separated loop being similar in size and shape to the main loop A, and the ends B and O of the arms B and 0 being brought into alinement, so they can be caused to abut, as shown in Fig. 2, whereby I avoid any exposed ends of the Wire and leave the tie at the juncture of the line and stay-lines smooth and continuous, so it'cannot injure stock in any way. In carrying out this feature of my invention it will be noticed that I make the arms B and O of a combined length equal to that of the main loop A. It should also be understood thatin constructing the tie it is preferred to make the returnarm 0 of a length less than that of the arms of the main 100p and to make the arm B of a length in excess of that of the arms of the main loop equal to the difierenc'e in lengths between the returned arm and the arms of the main loop, whereby when the arms B and C are bent to position for use, as shown in Fig. 2, the joint between the arms B and C,

or the point where they abut, will be at one side of the tie and about in line with the point about half-way between the ends of the arm of the main loop which such separated ful tie in that the wire is practically continuous and has its ends abutted and alined, so

that no projecting or exposed end of the wire is presented. I also provide a tie having four bends, furnished by making the tie with two loops, the main loop and the separated loop, and connecting such main and separated loops by bends in such manner as to present a tie which when viewed in plan, as shown in Fig. 3, or in side elevation, as shown in Fig. 4, will have practically the same contour, thus furnishing in connection with the crosswires a tie having two pairs of similar loops, the pairs of one loop fitting around one crossed wire above and below the other, and the loops of the other pair fitting around the other crossed wire at opposite sides of its crossed wire, as will be understood from Figs. 1 to 4 of the drawings.

From the foregoing it will be noticed that the tie is clamped upon the Wire instead of twisted on and that in so doing the clamp is drawn from both ends, making the tie more powerful and using less wire than other ties of this kind. Furthermore, the tie is clamped instantly to place, thus facilitating the operation and increasing the strength of the tie.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with the line-Wire and the stay-Wire crossing each other, of the tiewire having a main loop formed with arms having a uniting bend at one end, and provided at the other ends of said arms with returned arms, one of said returned arms being of a length less than that of the arms of the main loop, and the other returned arm being of a length in excess of that of the main loop equal to the difference between the shorter returned arm and the main loop forming four similar loops fitting around the stay and line wires on opposite sides of the point of crossing both vertically and laterally, and a practically continuous tie-wire with no exposed ends, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. A tie for wire fences, comprising the tiewire having a main loop and provided at the with no exposed ends, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. A tie-wire for fences, having a main loop and provided at the ends of the arms thereof opposite its connecting bend with returned arms, one of which is made of a length less than half of the length of the main loop, and the other returned arm being of a length which combined with that of the shorter returned arm will approximately equal the length ofthe main loop, the returned arms combining to form a loop similar to the main loop and the ends of said arms being alined and abutted avoiding any exposed ends, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination in afence with the linewire and the stay-wire crossing each other of the tie-wire having a main loop formed with arms having a uniting bend at one end and provided at the other ends of said arms with returned arms, one of said returned arms being of a length less than that of the arms of the main loop and the other returned arm being of a length in-excess of that of the main loop equal to the difiierence between the shorter returned arm and the main arm, the tie-wire being applied to the 1ine-wire and stay-wire with its returned arms abutted at their ends at one side of the stay-wire whereby the tie-wire when viewed from either side of the fence will present an unbroken uninterrupted and practically continuous appearance and will exert a uniform strain on both stay-wire and line-wire on both sides of the point of crossing substantially as set forth.

BERT B. WOOD.

Witnesses:

ANNIE M. STEWART, MAssnNA BULLARD. 

